Police come up empty after gunman reported near Alta Vista schools

Parents pick up their children after Ottawa Police locked down Charles Hulse Public School on Alta Vista dr after hearing reports that a man with a gun was spotted nearby.Chris Mikula / The Ottawa Citizen

Lockdowns at several Alta Vista area schools Thursday afternoon ended after as heavily armed Ottawa police officers swarmed the Charles H. Hulse Public School to look for a possible gunman but came up with nothing.

The large police response at the school at 2600 Alta Vista Dr. shortly before 2 p.m. was prompted by a student who reported seeing a man with a rifle running into the woods.

Tactical officers went into the woods with their guns drawn and began a grid search to try to locate the man.

Concerned parents who flocked to the school were not allowed to enter until the lockdown ended around 3:30 p.m.

The Ottawa-Carlton District School Board said after the lockdowns ended that all students were safe and that buses taking students home from Charles H. Hulse Public School, Featherston Drive Public School, Alta Vista Public School and Ridgemont High School could be up to 45 minutes to an hour late.

Further information wasn’t immediately available.

Charles H. Hulse Public School was locked down after a possible gunman was spotted in the area on Thursday afternoon.Chris Mikula /
Ottawa Citizen

Students wave out the windows to their parents after Ottawa Police locked down Charles Hulse Public School.The Ottawa Citizen

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